Sew: Décolleté Collar Tutorial {Add A Vintage/Retro or 50’s Style Bust Collar To A Sweetheart Bodice}

I thought I googled like a pro. But when I tried to find out how to do this I found…..nothing. Surely people add this detail to dresses. Well I asked around various sewing communities and this is what I came up with. If you know of a better way or have seen a great tutorial for this, let me know, okay?

I started out with a sweetheart bodice I’d made before, Simplicity 4070. It’s designed to have boning, which I didn’t do because I need straps for my big girl bra. This bodice is fully lined but would work fine with a pattern that uses facings.

First I made up the bodice front but didn’t attach the bodice back. I should have stay stitched the neckline but didn’t. You should! Then I measured the approximate distance from centre front to the side seam. I added a few extra inches to that measurement to give me some extra collar to play with. Let’s call this collar length.

Then I cut four strips of collar fabric 3″ wide (or how wide you want the collar plus seam allowances) by the collar length. That’s two collar pieces for the right side and two for the left collar. I applied iron on medium weight interfacing to the back of each piece.

With right sides together, sew along one side of each collar section. I wanted the collar to angle in the centre so I marked and sewed the front of each collar section. I trimmed the seam allowances, turned the collar pieces out the right way and pressed.

I aligned the angled end of the collar piece to the right side of the bodice at centre front. I over lapped the collar pieces slightly at centre front because I didn’t want too big a gap between them. I aligned the raw edges, all the way along the top. Don’t trim the collar overhang at the side seam just yet! Baste the collar to the bodice, inside the seam allowance.

I pinned the bodice to the dressform and adjusted the free edge of the collar at the side seam until things were sitting nicely. You could get a helper to do this on your body. I pinned it in place and trimmed accordingly. I then sewed the bodice back to the bodice front, trapping the collar edge in the side seam.

I was adding straps so I basted them in place at the front before sewing the bodice lining to the bodice along the top edge. If yours has a facing instead of a lining, sew that instead. I notched and trimmed the seam allowance, making sure to trim away most of the collar to avoid bulk, especially trimming the centre ‘V”. Then I gave it a good press and under stitched along the bodice lining.

That’s it for the collar tutorial! If you’re curious about the rest of the dress, the main fabric is vintage and I picked up on eBay. The white collar and bodice lining fabric was picked up in an op shop somewhere. The skirt was a self drafted half circle skirt. I think that half circle skirts can be more flattering than full circle skirts and they use far less fabric, especially at my size. My fabric was only 1m wide and I was able to cut my skirt in one piece by folding lengthwise. If you want to draft a half circle skirt to fit an existing woven bodice, I just did a tutorial for that. I used my fave curved hem finish, bias binding. I love bias tape, I have whole post on the many ways to use bias tape.

I knew I wanted to tweak the bodice at little. I searched high and low for the other dress I made with pattern but it had disappeared. With no comparison garment I had to wait for Mummy Asks fitting help. So I only attached the bodice lining along the neckline. I attached the skirt, sewing it to the orange fabric only and pressed the seam up towards the bodice. I hemmed the skirt and inserted the zipper to the zipper in the orange fabric only. I made my tweaks to both fabric and lining and then hand sewed the lining to the zipper tape and to the seam allowance around the waist. And TADA!!! I hope you found this tutorial useful. You can now add a decollete collar to all your strapless style bodices, I know I will!!!